Direction, Misdirection, And Introspection

If you’re here for band marketing advice, info about the cannabis industry, or any other business matter, I’m sorry to say it may be time for you to unsubscribe. Although I have many platforms from which to share my insight on these topics, I’ve made the decision to keep this particular URL a little more personal. More of a conversation with my own mind, and with those who tend to seek me out for life advice.

So on that note, this will be the first of many entries and ramblings to help clear my head and keep those creative writer juices flowing in an otherwise mechanical content career. If you’ve read this far, I hope my musings help trigger some creative thought for you, or at least a distraction from whatever you are procrastinating about right now.

Music Marketing and DIY Band Hacks from WhiskeyChick

On Content Marketing in Country Music

During this pandemic I’ve been doing paid peacemeal content work. It’s not going to make us rich, but it keeps the lights on until our sites can earn again. It’s really looking like live event sales won’t kick up till after the new year but it may be the end of next year before seatgeek and ticket liquidator turn commissions back on (which were deactivated back in March). I’m working with a gal to try and get paid sponsors for the sites, but we are also both working outside of music while we work this out.

Right now our sites are actually popping higher than ever on search because we keep working through the pandemic where a ton of our competitors have already been forced to fold… we’re just working out how to monetize without live events. Advertisers have slowed their spending too so adsense is down to about $30 a month (with the $100 minimum payout). However… when music venues open up and trust in the safety of live events starts rising, we’ll be riding that wave all the way to the bank.

See my latest post on influencer marketing in country music at CountryMusicNewsBlog.com

On Managing Stress

I refuse to be stressed out about this money shit anymore and I urge you all to do the same. Revenue has been tight for forever but it always works out that we get what we need so we’re both just working where we can and enjoying our time off in between. Worrying has never made it any better so I’m just not doing that anymore…. turns out it frees up a lot of spare time and creative energy.

At the risk of sounding cliche’ just remember that worrying is a CHOICE and not to be confused with optimistic planning or realistic preparation. You can worry about a lack of money, or you can plan on how to get by with less while actively improving your chances of earning more by applying for jobs, practicing your natural talents or looking into short-turnaround opportunities like crafts and yard sales. Worrying just distracts from rational thinking.

On Our Tiny Cabin Compound Build

In case you’re not following me on IG or FB, we’ve had some major progress on our tiny cabin compound build over the summer and I look forward to sharing the finer details in upcoming posts, but for now I’ll hit the major points to get you up to speed:

Our compound (thus far) consists of one master cabin and two bunkhouses, one detached kitchen, a workshop with covered carport, a greenhouse and garden with a rustic outdoor cooking area, and a chicken coop full of ridiculous birds.

Each bunkhouse building is being finished out as a full-service cabin with 2 private sleeping areas as well as a convertible lounge area to sleep up to 7 people per building. The Master Cabin is just that.. a master bedroom, en suite bathroom and living room that will be the permanent “boss house”. Each is being finished according to local safety and fire code as a vacation bunkhouse and family retreat to serve our large family and will have full bath and kitchen facilities. Cabin 1 is about 80% done with just cosmetic details to come, Cabin 3 is 50% complete with insulation, plumbing, electrical, and some finishing, while Cabin 2 has just begun electrical work. Each cabin has a theme that we’ll explore as we get closer to the finish line.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and in our case the pandemic and financial stress that quickly followed actually came with a silver lining. It opened up an opportunity to refinance the most expensive part of our project, which is the cost of the two core unfinished Derksen portable buildings that make up the anchoring structures of our build. We were able to rework the financing down to almost 1/3rd of the original monthly payments which really opened up our monthly budget and honestly saved our hides this summer.

I do wish we were one of those fun quirky families that get sponsored parts and paychecks to build this dream out, but in the meantime we’ll just keep slugging away at the projects one board and nail at a time as our budget allows. If you want to see more detail, swing over to my Instagram profile where I tend to share a lot of behind-the-scenes construction updates, or comment below and let me know what aspects of the build you might be especially interested in and I’ll dedicate a post to it if I can.

I believe that covers all the major points right now. Stay tuned as I slowly turn this blog into an ongoing update of progress, thoughts and updates on our crazy life. Cheers!

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